A Columbia man observed by a Howard County Police surveillance team committing an armed robbery near the Mall in Columbia was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday in Howard County Circuit Court, according to State's attorney spokesman Wayne Kirwan.

According to police, a surveillance team posted in a parking garage near the mall observed two men accost a man near the parking lot of Union Jack's restaurant. The team observed one man point a semiautomatic handgun at the victim's head and chest.

Copeland's accomplice, Pierre Antawn Booth, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Feb. 27 for both armed robbery and a gun charge. Both the prosecution and the defense said Booth brought the loaded gun to the scene, Kirwan said.

According to Kirwan, Judge Timothy J. McCrone admonished Copeland for the crime, and the prosecution said Copeland had "a terrible (criminal) record the past 10 years."

McCrone sentenced Copeland to 20 years in prison, with all but 12 years suspended, Kirwan said. After his release, he will spend five years on supervised probation.

Two Howard County police officers conducting surveillance of a parking lot near the Columbia mall observed two men place a semi-automatic pistol into another man's stomach and rob him, according to charging documents.

After nearly six months of back-and-forth, a bill creating a set of nutritional guidelines for the food and drink sold in Howard County government vending machines was voted, for a final time, into law today.